Networks and Knowledge in the Medieval Muslim-Christian-Jewish Mediterranean

Summer Seminars and Institutes for College and University Teachers

Postmark Deadline: March 1, 2012

“Networks and Knowledge in the Medieval Muslim-Christian-Jewish Mediterranean” is a four-week college and university faculty institute for twenty-four participants, to be held in Barcelona, Spain, examining the medieval Mediterranean world and its role in promoting innovation, with particular attention to the interactions of Muslims, Jews, and Christians. This institute aims to explore the mechanisms, institutions, and relationships that facilitated cultural, scientific, and technological innovation in the medieval Mediterranean, as well as the interactions of the region’s Muslim, Jewish, and Christian populations. The institute seeks to recruit participants from diverse fields (among them history, literature, art history, religious studies, philosophy, and history of science). The institute examines economic developments in its first week, literary developments (in particular, the translation of texts) in its second week, and scientific and medical developments in its third week. The fourth week is devoted to synthesizing what was learned in the previous three, and to the participants’ presentation of their individual projects. Sharon Kinoshita, the institute director, teaches literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her co-director, Brian Catlos, is a historian at the University of Colorado, specializing in Muslim-Christian-Jewish interactions in the world of the medieval Mediterranean. Assisting them are six institute scholars, who are authorities in the history of science (George Saliba of Columbia University, and Fernando Salmón of the University of Cantabria in Spain), economic and cultural history (Charles Burnett of the University of London, Remie Constable of the University of Notre Dame, and Peregrine Horden of the University of London), and medieval literature (Karla Mallette of the University of Michigan).

About NEH Summer Seminars and Institutes for College and University Teachers

Each year the NEH’s Division of Education Programs offers teachers opportunities to study a variety of humanities topics in Summer Seminars and Institutes. Each NEH Summer Seminar includes sixteen participants working in collaboration with one or two leading scholars. Participants have access to a major research collection, with time reserved to pursue individual projects.

Amount of Award

NEH Summer Scholars are awarded fixed stipends to help cover travel costs, books and other research expenses, and living expenses. Stipend amounts are based on the length of the NEH Summer Seminar or Institute: $2,100 (2 weeks), $2,700 (3 weeks), $3,300 (4 weeks), $3,900 (5 weeks), or $4,500 (6 weeks).

Eligibility

NEH Summer Seminars and Institutes are designed primarily for teachers of American undergraduate students. Qualified independent scholars and those employed by museums, libraries, historical societies, and other organizations may be eligible to compete provided they can effectively advance the teaching and research goals of the project.

You may request information about as many projects as you like, but you may apply to no more than two NEH Summer Programs (seminars, institutes, or Landmarks workshops) and you may attend only one.

Please note:

Adjunct faculty, community college faculty and first-time participants are encouraged to apply.

Up to two seminar spaces and three institute spaces are reserved for current full-time graduate students in the humanities.